Abbās and Ibn Umar, with no disagreement from any of the Companions. As for citing the verse as evidence for this, that is a weak argument. If the mention of iʿtikāf alongside fasting in the verse made fasting obligatory for everyone observing iʿtikāf, then the mention of fasting alongside iʿtikāf would likewise make iʿtikāf obligatory for everyone who fasts.
Some who argued in support of al-Shāfiʿī’s position maintained that iʿtikāf is permissible without fasting because night falls upon the person observing it, and he remains in iʿtikāf without fasting. This conclusion does not follow. The onset of night, during which fasting is not valid, does not remove him from the sacred state of his iʿtikāf, even though he is not fasting. Similarly, leaving to attend to an unavoidable need, such as relieving himself, does not remove him from that sacred state, even though iʿtikāf is valid only in a mosque. If iʿtikāf without fasting were permissible because a person remains in iʿtikāf at night without fasting, then it would also be permissible to observe iʿtikāf in the streets and privies, since, when he goes out, he remains in iʿtikāf outside the mosque. Since this conclusion does not follow in the case of leaving, which is his own action, it is even less warranted in the case of nightfall, which is not his action.
The sound argument for our position rests on rational consideration, since no reliable transmitted evidence has been established on this matter, and the mere statements of scholars carry no authority when they disagree. The argument is that iʿtikāf consists of remaining in a place as an act of drawing near to Allah Most High. It must therefore involve entering a state of sacred restriction, namely fasting, just as remaining at Minā, Arafah and Muzdalifah constitutes an act of drawing near to Allah only when undertaken within the sacred restrictions of Hajj.
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Iʿtikāf is permissible on every day of the year except those days on which the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—forbade fasting: the day of Eid al-Fitr and the days of Tashrīq.
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It is among the voluntary acts of goodness. The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—observed iʿtikāf, as did his wives and the Muslims. Yet there was no righteous deed that the pious early generations practised less regularly than iʿtikāf. This was because of its difficulty, because its nights and days are alike, and because whoever begins it becomes bound to observe all its conditions, which he may fail to fulfil. For this reason, Mālik—may Allah be pleased with him—regarded it as disliked. He said in al-Majmūʿah: “I have long reflected on the Companions’ refraining from iʿtikāf, although the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—continued to observe it until Allah took his soul, while they were